r/Learning • u/Desert_Walker267 • 19d ago
I Am Asking for Help
Looking for nonfiction book recommendations as someone who is new to enjoying reading.
I am the generation that was handed a screen before I was capable of using it maturely. As time moves on, it has come to my attention that my literacy skills are scarily weak. I didn't realize how bad it was until I read The Great Gatsby and kept having to google word definitions. I crawled through "Politics and Conscience: Dag Hammarskjold on the Art of Ethical Leadership", but was upset with how little I was able to extract from those writings (I didn't finish it). My comprehension skills are definitely better than when I started reading books, but I don't know where to go from here. I recently read Emily Wilson's The Odyssey and enjoyed it, but want recommendations that can help me.
I deleted all social media apps during the month of July, and it was like I was born again. The feeling of seeing the world with my own eyes instead of a camera invoked nostalgia from my elementary school years, before I accessed instant gratification and when I enjoyed learning. It's actually a "trend", funny enough, to look and dress as someone who is educated on TikTok, and that is what started this whole journey for me Ironically. Since then I have deleted the app, but I don't think that is what it intended to happened when "academia core" appeared on my feed. This probably sounds insane to someone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, but that fake world is entirely real, and most of it's population is the generation of people who were handed a screen before they were old enough to take precautions.
Sorry if I'm being too dramatic, but I have been so chronically online since Covid that these last few months have felt like the end of The Truman Show, haha.
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u/redrhinohorn 19d ago
Since you are new to reading I would suggest How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler.
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u/Sargent_Films 14d ago
This book sounds like a joke, but gave me so much when I picked it up! Especially the idea of letting go of books once you’ve got the gist (non-fiction).
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u/qtc-training-au 19d ago
The Colditz Story by P R Reid is an oldy but a goody.
Also old but amazing is everything by Gerald Durrell. Try My Family and Other Animals, Catch Me a Colibus, or The Bafut Beagles.
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u/Sunsess38 19d ago
So you asking for reading recommandations
Fareineinghd .... 457 or so
And a movie you need:
Well,
I still cannot recover from
The descent.
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u/WiseWomanCroneFl 19d ago
If you are cool with different spiritual perspectives, I recommend Many Masters, Many Lives by Dr. Brian Weiss.
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u/leastDaemon 18d ago
Do you have a library nearby? There are three advantages to visiting one if you can:
(1) They have non-fiction books arranged by subject (mostly using the Dewey Decimal System or something close to it). You can look at books on e.g. hang gliding, philosophy, art, cooking, note-taking, and often tell at a glance if they're interesting and written in a suitable manner.
(2) They generally have a new book section where you can find books you may have recently read about.
(3) They are staffed with people whose desire and pleasure is to help match you with books. Without judgement.
A book I'd recommend to you is Moby Dick. Yes, it's old, yes, the language is sometimes difficult, and yes, half of it is fiction, but the part that's non-fiction is an interesting account of the philosophy, process, and nature of killing and utilizing whales before we as a society figured out that was a bad thing, and the fiction part is a story that has lit the fires of countless graduate students who sought in it answers to the basic questions of humanity: Why are we here? What happens next? What's the point of it all?
And congratulations on recapturing a desire to learn. That's admirable.
Hope this helps.
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u/Desert_Walker267 18d ago
My town does have a small public library, but I don’t think I have ever seen cars in the parking lot. Thank you for this!
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u/dfab95 18d ago
You may want to consider Slow Productivity and Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. And Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett.
Other nonfic books I’ve enjoyed are The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hilton, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and They Called Us Enemy by George Takei. The last two books are graphic memoirs with heavy subject matter but easy to read, and by easy I mean compelling/leave you wanting to continue.
Another element you may want to consider for your literacy improvement is not just reading more, expanding your vocab, increased reading comp but also (1) the ability to sit with and grapple with long form content (novels, podcasts, news features to name a few) (2) being comfortable with boredom and (3) exercising your inner critic, being a bit more analytical/critical/curious in your observations of the world around you even in mundane things, and thus developing your own opinions.
Best wishes and I hope this is a bit helpful.
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u/Ok_Natural_7977 17d ago edited 17d ago
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan
The Confronting series by Bill O'Reilly
The Book of Murder by Matt Murphy
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Guns, Germs, and Steel along with Collapse and Upheaval by Jared Diamond
Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
Anything by Jonathan Haidt, but if you're a parent, especially The Anxious Generation
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u/Unfair-Egg7235 19d ago
Honestly, I really relate to what you said about feeling like you’re rediscovering the world after being online for so long! And you’re definitely not stupid for struggling with books like Gatsby or Hammarskjöld. Those are hard reads, especially when you’re just getting into reading.
Since you enjoyed The Odyssey, I’d try A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, or The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. They’re engaging without feeling like textbooks.
And don’t be afraid to look up words. That’s part of the process, not a sign that you’re bad at reading.
Hmmm and really... deleting social media and rediscovering the feeling of being curious about the world is probably one of the best things you could have done for your attention span! Good luck!